Colour me impressed - BMW and E Ink unveil color-changing concept car at CES

[Lightwreather]

Summary

While companies like Qualcomm, Tesla, Ford, or Hyundai are talking more about all-electric vehicles and advanced self-driving systems—both in and out of CES—BMW’s concept car at the event this year brings something else entirely. If its color-changing technology makes it into real cars, it could have tangible uses outside of just looking flashy.

 

Quotes

Quote

BMW and E Ink revealed the BMW iX Flow concept at CES this week, an SUV covered in E Ink’s Prism ePaper, which lets it change colors. E Ink, a company specializing in low-power displays and ePaper, developed Prism as a wallpaper of sorts that can be programmed to display different things. BMW says it could increase personalization options or make the car more noticeable in certain conditions

The iX Flow shown at CES can only change between black and white, but those two colors alone could benefit the car's energy consumption and climate controls. On hot sunny days, the vehicle could turn white to reflect sunlight and more easily stay cool. On cold days it could turn black to absorb sunlight and more efficiently heat the interior. E Ink doesn't display any light itself—it only reflects ambient light—and it only uses energy when changing colors.

 

My thoughts

So, we've had Colour changing phones and now colour changing cars and that too within a few days of each other. Now, this actually makes sense for a car more than for a phone for the reasons outlined in the second paragraph of the quote. Tho, I do wonder what the cost to repair it would be if it get's scartched. There are 2 colours available atm and I think there's reason to expect more options coming out soon. And I'm already things of the whacky things this can be used for: RGB car and Using the car as a monitor for gaming come to mind. Well, have fun with this one.

And is it just me, or does the car feel like it's judging with it's headlights squinting in disappointment /s

Sources

TechSpot

E-Ink

[CTR640]

What color does 'impressed' have? Because I want to color you impressed in e-ink and this time not in concept-mode.

[Lightwreather]

3 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

What color does 'impressed' have?

I think it's #eefffa but not too sure

[pythonmegapixel]

I can think of loads of useful applications for the ability to display monochrome images in an easy-to-read fashion using minimal energy. And this nonsense is what they choose to develop.

 

Ugh.

[CTR640]

29 minutes ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

I think it's #eefffa but not too sure

And in decimals? But I'm afraid it has to be in RGB.

[cj09beira]

Police: Dispatch we are on pursuit, its bmw SUV

Dispatch: What color is it?

Police: All of them

[cj09beira]

Or instead its the "Taxi 1998" plot but instead of taking 10 mins for the paint to dry its immediate. 

[HenrySalayne]

2 hours ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

The iX Flow shown at CES can only change between black and white, but those two colors alone could benefit the car's energy consumption and climate controls. On hot sunny days, the vehicle could turn white to reflect sunlight and more easily stay cool. On cold days it could turn black to absorb sunlight and more efficiently heat the interior. E Ink doesn't display any light itself—it only reflects ambient light—and it only uses energy when changing colors.

"Your designers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should."

I have a cup that will change from black to white if it gets hot. I'm sure it doesn't use an E-Ink display.

And just imagine somebody scratches the car and it will start dripping E-Ink fluid.

[StDragon]

15 minutes ago, cj09beira said:

Police: Dispatch we are on pursuit, its bmw SUV

Dispatch: What color is it?

Police: All of them

Plaid.

 

Elon, eat your heart out!

[Radium_Angel]

BMW grilles

[Guest willies leg]

It's amazing how these car companies build these concept cars with zero chance of anything actually making it into production.

I guess they have to, they're out of real ideas, and can't deliver on the basics.

How's BMW's EV transition going anyway? Not just the plan, but what's really happening.

 

[Radium_Angel]

6 minutes ago, willies leg said:

Not just the plan, but what's really happening.

Well, there's the i3..

 

It's really expensive when new.

Depreciates insanely fast (faster than Italian exotics)

Very weird to drive

and typical for BMW, really expensive to fix or replace parts (like the tires...)

(EDIT) oh, and has been discontinued 

 

...so...you tell me.

[StDragon]

4 minutes ago, willies leg said:

It's amazing how these car companies build these concept cars with zero chance of anything actually making it into production.

That's why they're called "concept" cars. It's typical to see a company throw all ideas into one car. In reality, only certain ideas make it into final production in whole or in part. The limiting factor always being engineering and legal.

Think of concept cars giving the artists and engineers unchecked freedom to explore new ideas before reality comes crashing down to rein them in.

[Franck]

how much is "cold temperature" for them ? I mean were i live we say it's cold when it's -15C (-5 F).

I can tell that at around 5C (41F)  my e-ink reader is barely responsive and i have to read my books on my tablet instead.

Do they plan to hide a small heater element all around the car to prevent the ink cells from freezing ?

[cj09beira]

22 minutes ago, willies leg said:

It's amazing how these car companies build these concept cars with zero chance of anything actually making it into production.

I guess they have to, they're out of real ideas, and can't deliver on the basics.

How's BMW's EV transition going anyway? Not just the plan, but what's really happening.

 

so true, would have loved to see the Toyota FT-1, the v12 tdi audi r8, the audi quattro concept actually produced.

[TetraSky]

Finally, getting away from the cops will be easier by changing the color of your car on the fly and modding it to be able to switch out your license plate quickly

[IPD]

I mean....BMW did have a concept car made out of fabric.  Seems like something they would be prone to do eventually.

 

Not sure e-ink is the future, but I have felt that there should be a better way to change a color on your vehicle than a lengthy process of taping, sanding and multi-layer resprays.  Wraps don't last very long--especially in direct sunlight.

 

The fact that it's 2022 and we're just now getting to mainstream application of smart-glass....should tell you something about how far away from meaningful progress the car industry has gone.  And I personally would rather have an interior that looks the same for 20 years of production (and annual exterior changes/tweaks); vs. the modern trend "boring" for 10 straight years.

 

We still don't use LED strip lighting in all the meaningful ways we could.  Headlights are only, just now, migrating away from 3-square-feet of plastic (that will always yellow with age) to pure-necessity-sized slits that peek out from between sheet-metal panels.  Digital (LCD flat panel) instrument displays are still not 100% universal--and even in the world of aftermarket--there's a lack of support/quality.

[IPD]

Also wonder why we have no power-by-wire systems.  Maybe I'm missing something.  I don't know of any mass-production vehicles with an IC engine bolted directly to a generator, with wires running from that to wheel/axle motors.  It would eliminate the need for a transmission, differentials  and a driveshaft.  Seems like something that would be worthwhile pursuing--seeing as how it's not too far removed from some of the advances on the 787 Dreamliner (eg. braking system).

[Radium_Angel]

35 minutes ago, IPD said:

Maybe I'm missing something

Cost and complexity.

Perhaps fine for ultra luxury cars, but less so for the rest of us.

[Doobeedoo]

I mean cool to see how it shifts.

[IPD]

23 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Cost and complexity.

Perhaps fine for ultra luxury cars, but less so for the rest of us.

Well seeing as how much tech has already been developed for/with hybrids (and electrics)--and the fact that driveshaft, transmission and differential's are no longer needed--I don't agree.

[Heliian]

Cool concept, completely pointless and most likely illegal in most jurisdictions.  

 

If you make good cars, people will buy them.  

[BuckGup]

5 hours ago, pythonmegapixel said:

I can think of loads of useful applications for the ability to display monochrome images in an easy-to-read fashion using minimal energy. And this nonsense is what they choose to develop.

 

Ugh.

I don't think you should downplay development like this even if it's a one off concept car. They are using the technology in a completely new application which likely opens the doors to many discoveries or enhancements to the technology used. People are also probably more passionate to work on integrating an e-ink display in a cars paint than they are mundane use cases that have small technological hurdles. 

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, IPD said:

Well seeing as how much tech has already been developed for/with hybrids (and electrics)--and the fact that driveshaft, transmission and differential's are no longer needed--I don't agree.

You'd need to completely redesign floorpans for a start. There would be lots of testing to ensure reliability (this takes a lot of time) and determining which parts need to be reinforced (or redesigned) to work with an IC engine, and so forth, so yes, a lot of time and money.

[cj09beira]

5 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Finally, getting away from the cops will be easier by changing the color of your car on the fly and modding it to be able to switch out your license plate quickly

just wait until your can snitches on you via gsm